Development Blog

12/21/2016

Counter Agents

We finally published Counter Agents on Steam! Both Jeff Jackman and I hit the submit button to launch the game on December 1st. We celebrated with our EAE colleagues with a Counter Agents cake made by my wife, Whitney.

Me and Jeff Celebrating Release Day with a Counter Agents Cake

EAE Play Event on December 9th

After releasing Counter Agents on Steam, we have been so excited to build our game’s community. Just 20 days in we now have over 8,000 Owners with a presence in 93+ countries! We have 23 Reviews so far with a 100% positive rating. Our Facebook page now has over 600 followers and we get several new YouTube videos from people all over the world every day! This has been such a fun experience for our small team!

On December 9th, we had the Entertainment Arts & Engineering EAE Play event where we opened our computer lab up for anyone to come in and enjoy playing our games. I presented both Counter Agents and my thesis project, Deliriant at the high turnout event. Counter Agents was really well received! People love the simple concept with the high intensity as well as their ability create their own maps.

07/24/2016

Counter Agents

Our new Facebook pageis up and running with 75 followers so far. We want to build awareness before starting our Steam Greenlight campaign.

We have made a lot of improvements in this last month. All current character models are in, the editor is smoother than ever, and new mobility factors such as the boost and jump tiles are in to spice things up!

We are keeping in constant communication with each other through weekly meetings, Facebook messenger and Trello for individual tasks and completion date organization.

06/23/2016

Counter Agents

We are remaking Counter Agents and it is turning out nicely! We changed the environment to have a 3D feel and included multiple level height layers, increasing possibilities with level design. The map editor has become so brilliantly simple, anyone can easily make their own levels. This video below demonstrates the new look of the game.

12/20/2015

IncogFerno

Team Cinder was formed! Two Programmers: Sudeep Singh and Daniel Paez. Two
Artists: Sean Murray and Brock Richards. And Three Producers: James Montgomery (Me), Benjamin Steele, and Jonathan Do. In our first concept meetings we discussed ideas including Refugee, a game where you and your younger sibling are refugees trying to sneak out of the camp you are being held captive in. You play as both siblings solving stealth puzzles such as using one sibling to distract guards letting the other move forward and then alternating responsibilities to progress through levels. We enjoyed this concept, however, it lacked the potential gameplay depth to create a lasting experience with uniquely entertaining mechanics. We thought considerably about how to make this idea work.

While walking around outside one day, I was inspired by the sun and the shadows it created. During our next team meeting, I pitched my idea that answered this question: “Instead of hiding in the shadows, what if you had to stay in the light to survive?” This idea included the story that you are a piece of the Sun who fell down to Earth and wanted to sneak onto a NASA rocket to fly your way back home. However, as a small fame mass, you aren’t really welcome among mankind who will do everything they can to extinguish you! So your only option is to use stealth by hiding in sources of light to sneak your way to your ultimate goal.

This idea quickly sparked interest and became the massive pivot from the original Refugee idea, still retaining the idea of a stealth focused game. We decided on changing to a Victorian-era setting because, supposedly in modern days, people don’t typically have torch flames lighting their buildings! In turn, we also decided against the NASA rocket narrative and focused on the gameplay mechanics. By having a dark castle dungeon lit by torches and lanterns, this provided the perfect playground for a rogue flame to run about! We created the challenge of sneaking around guards by embedding yourself into your same element, including within the very lanterns the guards were carrying! You also would need to stay within these fire sources as much as possible or else you would wither out. To progress through levels, you must sprint from source to source, avoiding darkness as much as possible in fear of being caught and stomped out by the guards. We then came up with the title, IncogFerno, the combination of the words Incognito and Inferno!